Thankfully, the next morning as we are leaving Ronda, the sun did peek out a little bit.  The countryside around Ronda is very pretty, and if we had had more time to explore there, it is possible that the town might have been a good fit for our family, if we found a place along the outskirts.  For now, though, we decided to cross it off the list, because our visit was very little value because it was so rainy and we had so little time.  It is hard to decide whether we like mountains and countryside better, or the beach better!

  We drove a different route back to Malaga that was a little less treacherous in terms of winding roads. We saw lots of cute little towns along the way, some that looked rather run down, and others that look like they might be good places to live if you want to be out in the country that fairly close to a major city.  We know nothing about what the schools or churches are like there, however, so Laura wrote down a few town names and we will research later to see if they be worth going back to next time we are in Spain.

  
 We left about an hour more than we needed to get back to Malaga, and we were glad for it, because it took us a little while to find a gas station and make our way back to the rental car return area at the train station. In the end, we were right on time with no extra time to spare. 

We boarded the Ave to Madrid without a hitch.  Cora slept some on the train, and we were very glad to be with us long trip where we could move around, rather than being stuck in the car. However, I should note that the changing tables in train bathrooms are tiny!
We were thankful that when we arrived in Madrid, they had a guide to take us directly to the next train platform for Pamplona, because it was a very short connection. About 6 1/2 hours later we arrived in Pamplona, and Dominic Maronne, the pastor of the GCE church there, picked us up and showed us around the city before bringing us back to his house to stay the night. 

 We saw the famous historic town hall building, and the place where the bulls run during San Fermin.  We also were able to stop in to the Orange office to get our phone Sim card problem fixed, finally!

  When we got back to the house, Damarais had fixed a wonderful Spanish dinner for us, and we enjoyed it about then usual Spanish time – 9 PM!  We did a FaceTime call with her kids and laughed at how hyper they were! They enjoyed being silly with the Marrone kids as well.

On Sunday we attended church at La Iglesia Cristiana Evangélica Victoria in Rincón de la Victoria.  It is a small church that meets in a rented building with 3 small classrooms and one larger room that serves as the sanctuary and multi-purpose room.  There were about 50-60 people there, including a team of about 12 visiting from Calvary Chapel in California and another 3-4 visitors from Bilbao.  We didn’t know any of the worship songs, but thoroughly enjoyed singing in Spanish with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  In particular, I enjoyed the Spanish classical guitar that accompanied the music!  This Sunday, the visiting pastor from CA preached in English, with Pastor Ivan translating to Spanish.  Everyone was very welcoming, and we had a good conversation with Ivan about the doctrine of the church, their needs, and the Spanish culture.  He and his wife Eunice both speak English extremely well, so we spoke a little of both languages.

When the service was over, they converted the room into a place to eat, and invited us to share their potluck lunch with them!  We got to talk with some of the visitors and also some members of the local church.  It was a very helpful and encouraging time.

After we left, we decided to check out and inland town, Ronda.  On the way there, we drove through Torre de Benagalbón (on the recommendation of a really interesting man Ryan met at church who had worked for the United Nations and traveled all over), and then headed a little further west to check out other areas of Mijas Costal.  While Ryan was driving, Laura was able to talk to an American missionary in Spain on the phone and get a lot of information about schools for the kids, other potential towns to check out, and life in Spain in general.  We did think La Cala de Mijas was a very cute little area near the beach, but were still a little deterred by the highly touristy feeling of it. We turned north, and headed up the mountains towards Ronda. On the way, we drove through another pueblo blanco called Ojen, which is amazingly beautiful to see from afar, even despite the clouds and rain, and has some amazing views of the mountains as well as a for a few of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 As we drove up the curvy mountain roads (and Ryan sang the James Bond theme song) it started to rain. By the time we arrived at Ronda, it was pretty much pouring. We drove over the famous bridge there, but could not really see what it looks like from outside the car because it was so wet and dark. 

 We found a cheap place to stay, the Hotel Andalucia, which was a one star hotel and the least attractive one we stayed in our entire trip, borrowed an umbrella, and went out to brave the rain to find some food.  We tried to go to a tapas place that was highly rated on yelp, but it was closed and we arrived so we ate at the restaurant next door.  The food was pretty good, but the highlight of that meal was talking to the waitress, who told us that she has always lived in round and loves the town.  Unfortunately, I was pretty exhausted, so my Spanish wasn’t working very well to have a more in-depth conversation!  After dinner, we walked about a kilometer back to the hotel in the rain, and went to bed. It was a rough night with the baby, because she was right next to us in the tiny room, and she woke up many, many times. Most of the trip, she woke up every 2 to 3 hours each night, but this night was the worst.  I can’t wait for her to get back on her regular sleeping schedule the twelve hours per night without interruptions!

Thanks to Laura’s tremendous, detailed research and planning, the itinerary for our scouting trip is shaping up. We’ll be flying into Madrid and training immediately down to the Málaga area.

We plan to scope out many cities in the Costa del Sol area, as far east as Almeria. We hope to drive up and around Córdoba and Granada, too. While there are so many factors to consider, we are drawn to areas that are not already crawling with ex pats, so living against the coastline is unlikely.

Laura has found many churches to visit or touch base with while we are there. We will visit the established Great Commission Europe churches in Madrid and Pamplona.  There are fewer ‘known’ options in the South but we have some good leads.

I’ve been looking for audio tools to help with my Spanish comprehension. There are several podcasts for beginners that are helpful, but this is the best site I’ve tried so far. It is a subscription-based service but they have a sample to whet your appetite. 

http://www.newsinslowspanish.com/